Going Private: What’s Next for Ari Emanuel, TKO, WME and Other Assets as Silver Lake Makes its Move

variety.com:

Tyler Aquilina After two and a half years as a public entity, Endeavor is on the verge of going private again. While nothing has been finalized, most observers agree that privatization is the most likely endgame following Endeavor Group’s announcement that it’s evaluating “strategic alternatives” for its assets, which include the WME talent agency and various live events businesses. “By announcing that Endeavor was exploring its strategic alternatives, Ari was throwing in the towel,” says Lloyd Greif, an investment banker and CEO of Los Angeles-based firm Greif & Co. “From all appearances, Ari’s un-ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange and dropping the curtain — for now — as a public company.” It might be humbling but not exactly a shocking development for Endeavor, which has struggled to convince Wall Street that its holdings can translate into shareholder value greater than the sum of its parts. “Given the continued dislocation between Endeavor’s public market value and the intrinsic value of Endeavor’s underlying assets, we believe an evaluation of strategic alternatives is a prudent approach to ensure we are maximizing value for our shareholders,” Emanuel said in announcing the formal review.

Indeed, after the company finally went public in 2021 (following an aborted attempt two years earlier), Endeavor’s market capitalization slid from $10.6 billion to under $7 billion by the end of 2022.

Its market cap (based on Class A shares) currently sits around $7.4 billion — bolstered by its stock popping in the wake of the strategic review announcement — while its total value is estimated to be north of $11 billion when the preferred shares held by Emanuel and key holdings of company insiders are included. “Public.